Be intentional. Be relational. Be selfless.
In all of your relationships the effort you put into them, and your attitude, have a direct affect on you and those around you. My heart is to encourage through sharing my joys and challenges – the good, the bad and the ugly. Words served up with a bit of sweet, a dash of spicy and a healthy serving of random reality.

About Tracey

On a good day you’ll find me outdoors hiking and squeezing in some writing. I love my man and my children, [read more]

Busy Busy May

May
8

I am blessed.

I am busy, but I am blessed and I share all about that as a guest post contributor over at Family Matters today!

When my heart to speak into the lives of moms to encourage them allows me to share life regularly through the ministry of others I am in awe of how big God is! And truly amazed at how He opens doors that leave me humbled and grateful.

Today I am sharing over at Family Matters and I hope you join me there!

Family Matters is all about helping us be better parents! If you have never read a book by Tim Kimmel, the President of Family Matters – you really need to! He is the author of Grace Based Parenting and Raising Kids for True Greatness (one of my ALL TIME favorite books) and many others…his latest release is Connecting Church & Home.

I hope you will spend some time reading some of his and his wife Darcy’s posts – they have amazing wisdom – and they are big time fun! (You know I like big time fun!)

 

Mom Waste Of Time

Feb
21

Throughout my life keeping busy and being productive with my time has been a welcomed trait, one that has served me well.

It is almost as if I have this little “I am wasting time here” meter going off in my head at any given moment and thus I strive hard not to be unproductive.  Do you feel me here? Are you nodding in agreement?

Let us continue our back patting of our profound ability to accomplish!  Yay us!

As a born “organizer” have you too found yourself seeking to find the fastest, most efficient way to get any task completed and then get after it with gusto? Exhilarating isn’t it? At times I have even been referred to as “anal retentive” which is all the more celebrated because it causes me to get the job done!

When I was a professional I prided myself in my ability to juggle several projects at once and prove my worth based on my efficiency.

But at some point…all that seemed to change.

A beautiful thing happened through my life being radically turned upside down and I altered my requirement for constant doing. Doing was for me. My priorities changed…from me to she and he. Because, I became a mom!

I am now totally efficient at doing things that “appear” to be a total waste of time.

Yes, I know radical.  To be the mom is radical!

Doing nothing doesn’t come easy, it’s a learned habit, like so many of our other habits, it takes work and effort to acquire “waste of time” attributes.

Yeah – that’s what we did, and what we do, around our home – waste time!

Need an illustration?

A purple balloon.

It was my sons birthday and he picked up one of the discarded balloons from our family birthday celebration.  He smiled at me and bopped it towards me with his hand – I bopped it back and after several bops the laughter ensued.

We then kicked it back and forth, then we used elbows only, then knees, then noses, then we flicked it…and just about everything else you could think of, with rounds of repeats.  We kept at this for nearly forty-five minutes.

Here’s the kicker, I was supposed to be at a meeting, a gathering of moms who were working on a project together.  My son was supposed to have left the house, that’s what was on the morning schedule.  But…in the MOMent, my heart knew a little “waste of time” was in order.

Here’s the real kicker…this scene that has played out before your blog reading eyes did not occur on a birthday for my wee little son years ago…it occurred Tuesday for my seventeen year old son.

You see, we have a history of making time for each other, hanging out, playing, talking and even not talking, just being – the point is, years spent wasting time with my son has meant relationship building.

And relationship matters.

Please…take the time to waste some time!!!

Mom Gut Check

Aug
24

“In a minute” she shot out in frustration never taking her eyes off of the iphone as she texted rapid fire.

In front of her stood a little girl, I watched the little face contort as she hesitated and thoughtfully pleaded at her mother, with her heart…she then gave a little shake of her head and went back to her skipping in place, then stooped down to pick up a stick.

My walking in the park propelled me forward and the scene playing out before my eyes was now behind me…literally, but not figuratively.

My thoughts were not of the dismissive mom, for I do not know her story – this could have been a one time offense while she was seeing to the needs of a friend, or handling a crisis in need of her immediate attention.

My thoughts were of me, of the times behind me literally, where in pursuit of my own daily list of “to do’s” I barked out to my kids, “In a minute.” I hear the whisper of a recording replaying in my mind, remembrances of my son saying, “You always say that.”

Gut check.

The “me and my agenda” Busy Mom trap is so cunning in it’s lures. Yes, there are lots of important things to be done. But those things will always be there. Your children will not. More importantly your opportunities to build relationship with your children will not remain, “In a minute” conditioned children grow into teens who turn their hearts away.

Far too many teens have strained, or minimal relationships with their parents because there has been no time invested building relationship. The lack of intentional time spent with your children seems no big deal when it’s happening, but they add up one “in a minute” at a time and equal a strained relationship.

Gut check…do you need to make time for your children and leave the tasks waiting?

Start tonight.

 

 

 

Phooey on Tight Schedules

Jul
5

If you are an anal retentitve list keeper that must get lots accomplished to feel happy and secure – you may want to close your eyes, or click away, or be prepared to start laughing. This is not your kinda post – but then again, maybe that’s exactly why you should keep reading.

You see, I am guest posting over at Family Matters Blog and as a recovering Busy Mom myself – I decided to share my “take” on summer time schedules. Or should a say non-schedules.

Summer time and the living is….fun, memory filled, light heartedness, jammies, random this and that…oh yeah, I so totally went there.

If you are not sure what fun looks like for your crew, then brainstorm with your family. Pose the question, “If you could have free time to do whatever you wanted what three things would you like to do before the end of the summer?” Then…

For the full post on enjoying a laid back summer click through to Family Matters blog and read more!

No Time = No Posts

Feb
11

Hey there, ho there!

How you be?

I be swamped!  Major deadlines at MomLife Today that have kept me running around on my computer and to meetings whenever I have had some time to myself.  Which has been seldom and at strangely odd times.  Why you ask?

Could it be because there have been three…count them three snow days and my teens have been home and I have had a constant houseful of extra teens so the last thing I have time to do is sit and write.

Tonight a carload full went to a dance and are coming here after for spaghetti dinner. Said spaghetti dinner that yours truly is cooking, right now…while also trying to squeeze in a post. Cause I like to write.

So…as much as I want to write – I just cannot. No spare time.

As a matter of fact, for various reasons that shall go unspoken due to the magnitude of them – I may be silent for the next few days.

But rest assured I will be back.

Until then I strongly suggest you bop on over to MomLife Today because there is going to be a VERY exciting give away going on over there beginning Monday, February 14th. You just got some scoop that is heretofore unknown. (Woah, that’s Paralegal talk – I used to do that, back when I had lots of brains before they got all sucked out of my noggin by my children.)

Gotta run, I smell meat sauce sticking to my pan as I sit here typing away.

My MOMents come first – so gotta run!

May Madness Moms part 2

May
20

How are you this fine May fellow moms?

I am fine, just a little busy this month. Off the top of my head…

  • Band Dinner & Auction Volunteer
  • Kentucky Derby Party for Teens
  • Organize National Archery Tournament Hotel and Bus plans for 30 + families
  • Substitute Teach
  • Awards Banquet
  • Work projects for FamilyLife.com
  • Welcome Teas for New Women to FamilyLife
  • Update/Remake of Personal Website (yeah, this one)
  • Untold meetings and e-mails for MomLife Today.com
  • Plan Summer schedules
  • Register for camp
  • Trap tournament for Son
  • Trap tournament for Daughter
  • SAT & ACT prep and test stuff
  • Getting my butt kicked daily by Jillian Michaels 30-day shred
  • Band performance for Graduation
  • Dinner for MomLife Today team at my home
  • 3 sets of overnight guests
  • 14 year old boy sleepover
  • Horse with medical issues
  • Video and video editing for MomLife Today.com
  • Preparation for daughter’s 12 day “Junior Trip” with school
  • Quizzing daughter for her finals
  • Quizzing son for his finals
  • Homemade goodies for teacher
  • Meetings, phone calls, e-mails
  • Posts for MomLifeToday.com and MomLifeOutLoud.com

Really – what else could one mom pack into a month? I bet your list is longer!

I know…wah, wah, wah…forgive me I needed to vent!

(Truth be told…I love every minute of it and being a mom to two healthy, active, involved, fun loving teens  is the greatest thing ever…ever…ever! And being a part of encouraging other moms is icing on the cake!)

May Madness Moms

May
12

Forget March Madness…for all moms, the madness is in May.

I mean seriously…it’s like every school, church and civic organization tries to fit into the month of May whatever they did not manage to get done previously in the school calendar year.

I don’t know whether I am coming or going. I have this constant nagging in the back of my head, “What have I forgotten?”

Can you relate?

If some resort would wise up and offer a “Mom’s May Escape” package I think they would make a boatload of money and be forever loved by all stressed out May Madness Moms the world over! {Hint, hint!}

“Why yes, I would be more than happy to be your ring leader, cheerleader and #1 spokes woman Mr. Resort Owner person dude!”

Yeah right, like we could step away from home during the month of May…I have gone mad!

(Uh, Mr. Resort Owner person dude – June would work!)

Did You Waste Your Day?

Oct
7

The further I go, the behinder I get!

Do you feel like that some days?

I place a high priority on time spent in relationship and time spent with family. I get more than frustrated when I feel like a day is “wasted” moving from task to task. Don’t get me wrong, I very much enjoy getting things done, but I like the things being done to be wrapped around relationship.

If you had peeked into my life ten years ago you would have seen a very goal oriented mom who happily embraced moving from task to task. Not so, a decade later. So – for the word “wasted” to be placed next to the word task would have been way out of line back then. With age comes wisdom, the wisdom to realize that people matter more than my daily “to do” list.

If you find yourself unable to recall a moment during your day today where you stopped and had a meaningful conversation with someone…I am here to tell you that you are missing out on special God appointments.

Call it “stop and smell the roses”, call it “take a chill pill”, call it “life is too short” – whatever you call it, I suggest you embrace the idea that relationship is way more important than task.

Who were you supposed to encourage today that you were too busy to notice? Don’t make the same mistake tomorrow…or the next day…or…